Emmanuel Macron and his wife to present scientific evidence proving she is a woman

The story is becoming increasingly bizarre and has entangled its protagonists in a painful transition to settle years of controversy. Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, a few weeks ago sued an American influencer who claimed the French president’s wife was a man. They announced at the time that they were prepared to go to any lengths to prove it was defamation. The British broadcaster BBC has now announced that both plan to present photographic and scientific evidence to dispel this claim, which has been dragging on for years.

The lawsuit was filed in the United States against far-right influencer Candace Owens. The 218-page document, filed in the state of Delaware, accuses Owens of spreading “absurd, defamatory, and completely fictitious” statements.

Among the main claims made by Owens, known for her support for Donald Trump and transphobic remarks, was that Brigitte Macron was born a man, under the name Jean-Michel Trogneux (which is actually her brother’s name). Furthermore, the influencer has claimed that the president and first lady are blood relatives and that Macron is the product of a CIA human experiment or a “government mind-control program.” A leap forward, so to speak, compared to previous conspiracy theories.

Speaking to the BBC’s Fame Under Fire podcast, Thomas Clare, the Macrons’ lawyer in the case, explained that both scientific and photographic evidence will be provided. This includes images of Brigitte Macron during her pregnancy and while raising her children, which will be presented under U.S. judicial rules. If the lawsuit is successful, the couple would also have to travel to the U.S. to testify in a jury trial. The case, however, originated on the other side of the Atlantic.

The story began in 2021 on a YouTube channel dedicated to clairvoyance. Amandine Roy, a supposed medium who mixed esotericism with anti-government rants, one day conducted a telephone interview with a woman calling herself Natasha Rey, who claimed to be a journalist. The mysterious figure (wearing a hat and sunglasses) had spent years on a supposed investigation that culminated in the hoax that has since spread. Brigitte Macron was, in fact, her brother Jean-Michel Trogneux. She died very young, Rey claimed, and he supposedly changed sex and assumed his sister’s identity.

The interview, which ran for more than two hours, unraveled other delirious details about the children of the president’s wife and Macron himself. Both women shared photos of Brigitte Macron and her family, talked about surgeries she allegedly underwent, claimed she was not the mother of the couple’s three children, and divulged personal information about her brother. Unexpectedly, it became a viral hit and a trending topic on social media, where it took on a life of its own through accounts linked to the far right.

Brigitte Macron filed a lawsuit against both women, which she won in the first instance. The problem for the wife of the French head of state is that a Parisian appeals court decided to overturn the ruling and acquitted them last week of the 18 articles that had been the subject of the complaint. Only one passage referring to an alleged crime of corruption of minors fell within the scope of France’s press law, but even on that point, the court issued an acquittal, this time finding that they had acted in good faith. Brigitte and her brother, however, persisted with an appeal to the Supreme Court, which must now be processed.

The couple’s defamation case now centers on Becoming Brigitte, an eight-part series Owens released this year. The Macrons face a legal challenge in this case, as U.S. defamation laws require public figures to demonstrate “actual malice aforethought,” meaning that the person knew the information they were spreading was false.

“The principle here is the truth,” the Macrons’ lawyer told the Financial Times. “They believe it’s important to defend themselves… Owens has had multiple opportunities to do the right thing, and in response, she’s just mocked them.”

Owens’s lawyers have responded with a motion to dismiss, arguing that the case was filed in Delaware, where her companies are incorporated, and not in Tennessee, where she resides. They argue that requiring her to defend herself in Delaware would impose a “substantial financial and operational burden.”

The Macrons’ lawyer stated on the BBC podcast that Brigitte Macron found the accusations “incredibly painful” and that they were a “distraction” for the French president. “I don’t want to imply that this has caused him to lose his way. But, like anyone trying to balance their career and family life, when your family is under attack, it affects you. And he’s not immune to that because he’s the president of a country,” Clare said.

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